Hervey Addison Tarbell, M. D.


	This biography appears on pages 481-482 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				HERVEY ADDISON TARBELL, M. D. 

	Dr. Hervey Addison Tarbell, a physician and surgeon of Watertown, 
who is in general practice but has given special study to the treatment 
of the eye and ear, is regarded as one of the foremost representatives 
in this field. He was born in Windsor county, Vermont, November 16, 
1854, a son of Addison and Florella (Parker) Tarbell, both 
representatives of old New England families. They were natives of 
Vermont, in which state they were reared and married, and there the 
father followed the occupation of farming. In the maternal line the 
ancestry is traced back to Captain Coffeen, prominent in connection 
with the Revolutionary war. 

	Dr. Tarbell was reared at the old family home in the Green 
Mountain state and after mastering the elementary branches of learning 
taught in the public schools entered Kimball Union Academy at Meriden, 
New Hampshire, from which institution he was graduated with the class 
of 1874. He next entered Dartmouth College, completing his course in 
that institution with the class of 1878, at which time the Bachelor of 
Arts degree was conferred upon him. During his senior year at Dartmouth 
he began reading medicine, having determined to make its practice his 
life work. When his college course was completed he came to the west 
and taught school in Mankato, Minnesota, during which time he continued 
his reading of medicine. In 1879, in company with his brother, O. H. 
Tarbell, he came to Watertown and established the pioneer drug store of 
this city. In 1881 he severed his connection with the business, 
however, and returned to Hanover, New Hampshire, where he reentered 
Dartmouth College, there pursuing his first year's medical course. 
Subsequently he went to New York city and entered the medical 
department of the College of the City of New York, from which he was 
graduated on the 13th of March, 1883. Immediately following he returned 
to South Dakota, settling at Plankinton, Aurora county, where he was in 
successful practice for seven years. 

	In 1890 Dr. Tarbell eame to Watertown, where he has since been 
located, covering a period of twenty-five years. From 1901 until 1912 
he was associated with Dr. R. F. Campbell in the conduct of the 
Watertown Hospital. His ability has placed him in the front rank among 
the representatives of the medical profession in the eastern section of 
the state. His knowledge of the principles of medicine is comprehensive 
and exact, and while a successful general practitioner, he is now 
concentrating his energies and efforts upon the treatment of diseases 
of the eye and ear, having passed far beyond the point of mediocrity in 
his practice in that connection. In 1910 he built the Tarbell block, in 
which he now has his office. His high standing among his professional 
brethren is indicated in the feet that he is now the president of the 
Watertown Distriet Medical Society. He also belongs to the South Dakota 
State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He was 
appointed a member of the United States board of pension examiners at 
Plankinton and on his removal to Watertown he was appointed a member of 
the board for that district. He has served in this capacity for thirty 
years and for over twenty years has been secretary of the Watertown 
board. For a decade he filled the position of county physician and for 
two terms he was county coroner. 

	In 1884 Dr. Tarbell wedded Miss Anna Gleason, a graduate of the 
State Normal School at Mankato. Minnesota, who was a teacher in the 
Mankato public schools at the time of her marriage. They have three 
children, as follows: Lilla, a graduate of the University of South 
Dakota at Vermillion, who is now the wife of Rae W. Davis, an 
electrical engineer of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Helen, also a graduate of 
the University of South Dakota, who for the past three years has taught 
Latin in the Watertown public schools; and Hervey Gleason, who is a 
student in the Northwestern University at Chicago, Illinois. 

	The parents are members of the Congregational church and Dr. 
Tarbell has served as a member of the board of trustees for a number of 
years and is now a member of the building committee, having in charge 
the erection of a new church which is in contemplation. Fraternally Dr. 
Tarbell is connected with Watertown Lodge, No. 838, B. P. O. E. His has 
been a well spent life in which he has made wise use of his time and 
talents. Gradually he has worked his way upward and as the years have 
gone by the record which he has made for professional ability and honor 
and progressiveness in citizenship has won for him a place among the 
leading residents of Codington county.